Heimzworm
by Milleniumenjimon
Summary: The Heimzworm, once the flagship of Death Busters, has been abandoned for unknown reasons. As the witches 5 explore they will learn the terrible secrets onboard.
1. Preludge

_**In the beginning of the search for the holy grail there was a constant threat from an external force known as the God's Cross, their deep-seated antipathy was caused by unknown measures but they were still a threat. They have made their existence known in a bombing that has severally damaged the Mugen Gakuen building and killed several people, this has lead into the development of the International Research Division (I.R.D.), in case the main base is destroyed these small but capable research vessels that rest out in the international waters to take over in a moments notice.**_  
_**The I.R.D. Heimzworm was one of the flagships of Death Busters, this was the made secondary base and often hosted many important guest such as political figures of Japan. On the surface it was more glamorous than many cruise ships, underneath it was one of the most advanced labs in the Eastern hemisphere.**_

_**Three days after Tomoe Souichi, leader of the Death Busters, had brought his assistant, Kaorinite, and his daughter, Hotaru, to met a member of the prime minister's cabinet, Gumono Takahiku, and his family on the Heimzworm radio contact was lost when a message came in about a scientist showing signs of major paranoia and attack anyone that came close that had to be subdued.**_  
_**Suspicions are high that God's Cross was involved in this the Witches 5 was ordered by acting commander to rescue Tomoe Hotaru at all cost and keep any valuable data that would threaten the organization out of enemy hands.**_

_**But as the Witches 5 slow make their way to the vessel if they have known what is in store, perhaps none of them would have made this trip to the I.R.D. Heimzworm.**_

(-)

The I.R.D. Heimzworm, it was larger than most expensive luxury cruise ships and yet there was this unsettling feeling that will not leave her alone. She lean against the railing clutching her elbows while she silently choking down sea sickness, before the entire crew was the flagship of Death Busters. Dead in the water and as silent as a ghost ship.  
_Stop it,_ she snapped at herself as she pushed away. _You're just scaring yourself._

"Pulling up long side of the Heimzworm in 10 minutes," Cyprine shouted as she stepped out into the open air. "Get ready."

She gulped as she looked over her assigned equipment, the body armor was in check, her knee and elbow pads were strapped tightly and the pistol, a nine millimeter handgun, was where she holstered it. The ship was looming closer and closer by the second, behind her Eudial and Viluy was preparing a way to climb aboard. "Nervous?" Tellu asked as she did what she had done a few minutes ago, Mimete nodded when they pulled upside the Heimzworm. "Don't be, this should be just rescue mission," she said with much confidence in her tone. "We dealt with worse with those skirted brats."

"Yeah, we have." She said in agreement, looking up at the dark sky that was threatening rain she wondered, what would they find onboard?

A rope latter was shot up with a pair of harpoon guns at the top deck, making sure it was secure the _team leader_ Cyprine was first to climb up and make sure the coast was clear. Eudial was next, she was followed by Tellu. Viluy was reluctant to step on the flimsy latter, she has an slight fear of falling into the waters below. Mimete doesn't blame her, but she was the computer expert and was vital to this mission. When the poor girl made it topside she looked about to vomit, Mimete was the last to climb up as Ptitol was ordered to watch the ship they came in and man the radio.  
The deck of the ship was dark, casting too many shadows for anyone's liking and since it was now beginning to rain things gotten more complicated. Cyprine looked around before she spoke, "alright. Viluy, head to the bridge to get into the ship's computer. Eudial will accompany you there, the rest of us will go inside the passenger quarters to perform a search for any survivors. We'll met in the bridge in 30 minutes, got it?"

They nodded, parting ways they headed to different ends of the ship. Mimete swallowed hard as she followed behind her two comrades, she doesn't have much experience with guns except in training classes and was wishing for her staff. "Cyprine," she said a bit shyly. "Can I ask why don't we have our personalized weapons with?"

Tellu sighed and Cyprine rubbed a temple, "we've been over this over and over again. They are to cumbersome on these missions, what won't you understand?"

Mimete opened her mouth to argue further but shut it as they reached the entry to the guest quarters, Cyprine unholstered her pistol as she motion Mimete and Tellu to take up each side of the door. She carefully open the door before going into a roll into the center of the room and waving the pistol about. Tellu and Mimete exchange looks before Cyprine "cleared" the room, they stepped in. She took notice in how it was a little bigger than her apartment, not much just a little. The walls were a lighter shade of purple and the carpet was cream, was because there are several blotches of blood on it.  
This room could have been a place for social meetings, as their was no furniture. There was door opposite the one they came through which stood open, half in and half out was the body of a man. There was a large pool of blood beneath him, Tellu and Cyprine checked the next area and gave an okay. Mimete had a hard time entering the area, beneath her she could see the man lay face down hiding his wounds. She shivered, a small amount of bile rose in her throat as she walked into the hall.

The color scheme was the same as the last room, just with scenery paintings and dim lighting. On the left there were five doors, to the right there are five doors. Cyprine waved her free hand in a gestured to check any door they wish before walking to the last door on the left. Tellu took the door next to the last on the left, leaving her the right wing to explore.  
She took in a deep breath before heading off, maybe she might get lucky and find nothing.

(-)

"This can't be good." Eudial pointed out as she looked down at the remains of the first mate, who was wedged behind the metal door they just came through. He was slashed into ribbons by an unknown weapon (if it _was_ a weapon) that had left deep marks on the wall and the navigation equipment.  
"Can you find that logbook so we can get out of here?"

"We're suppose to met up with the others where, remember?" Viluy pointed out as she calmly walked over to a table filled with old navigation tools, near them was a leather bound book. She opened it to the last page and flipped back, stopping at the last entry.  
"This only mentions a scientist becoming paranoid, nothing else."

"Well that's a help," Eudial grumbled as she hide the gory sight behind the door. Outside she notice the rain was coming down harder, almost washing away any visibility there was. "Does it mention anything before that?" Eudial tilted her head enough to look over her should, a clank made her quickly snap her sight forward to see a figure standing in the doorway.  
Her fingers grasp the butt of her pistol, Viluy raised a wrist ready to launch her special attack when the figure stumble forward. It was Ptitol, and she was injured badly.

The redhead almost fell forward but Viluy had lunge forward to catch the woman by her shoulders out of fear of worsening the problem, she was soaked but it wasn't all from the rain. Two large gashes traveled from her left shoulder down to her right hip, she coughed up some blood as the two laid her down on the floor quickly.  
Viluy looked around the room for something to cover Ptitol with, Eudial was keeping her head up while asking the same question, "who did this."

Ptitol jerked and sputtered, her eyes were rolling up into her head causing the two witches to go into panic as they work fast. Viluy removed her bracelet and placed it into Ptitol's mouth as Eudial held her down, she screamed and cough up more blood. It was taking an effort for them not to vomit themselves, jerking violently she finally settled down. Her breathing was very irregular, her eyes were glazed over and the wound was still bleeding but she was alive.  
"Get the others."

"What?" Viluy looked up at Eudial, she just shot back a look to say that was an order. Looking down at Ptitol she knew there was little time, and it shouldn't be wasted on arguing. She quickly stood up, after making her way to the door she shot on last glance back at them before running down the deck.

(-)

Lucky, she had felt lucky when she had entered the first and second room. They were just unused, there were beds that seem to have never been touched and nightstands with no personal effects. She went to check the third room when Viluy had burst in shouting like she was on speed, Tellu and Cyprine came out of the rooms they were searching.  
Cyprine appear to have repressed an urge to slap the younger genus and adapted to hold her by the shoulders, "alright, what happened?"

"Ptitol, she came in with a injury." Viluy said, Mimete could hear her voice beginning to give way, she always had a feeling there was something between Ptitol and her. "She was spitting up blood and convulsing." Cyprine blinked, she almost threw Viluy aside to rush out the door. The trio followed closely, Mimete slipped once but the other kept on going until they reached the bridge. Cyprine slowed down, as did the others when she saw Eudial standing there. Viluy cut in front of them, "what happen?"

"After you left," Eudial swallowed hard then took a moment to catch her breath. "She jerked around, she was screaming before..." She hadn't need to finish the sentence, the others knew what she was going to say. Cyprine breathing was sharp, her fist was clinched and she was shaking.  
A clanking sound brought all of their attention to the bridge's door, where Ptitol was now standing; there was something wrong as she stumbled towards them, her eyes were glazed over and her movements were stiff. She was trying to form words but almost failed, it almost sounded like she had said "kill me."

Eudial backed away, she was reaching for her pistol as she watched Ptitol stagger backwards. One last scream escaped Ptitol before she landed up against the wall, her body was shaking quite badly while a sickening sound of some bones breaking was heard. Now she slowly stood up, moving in a unnatural way as she lifted her head up. Her eyes have turn into black orbs, this made Eudial pull out her firearm quickly. Four rounds had found their marks in Ptitol's torso, the creature open her mouth to let out a low hissing sound as she step forward while raising a hand. Eudial step back without a second thought while she aimed the pistol carefully, the fifth round found it's mark in the woman's head.  
It was no surprise that a headshot would take her down, the other shots should have taken her down but she knew that logically a ghoul, or whatever the hell she became, can only be taken down with a bullet to the head.

Behind her, her teammates were ether yelling at her what she had done (Viluy and Cyprine) or utterly confused about this situation (Mimete and Tellu.) They stopped when a howl rend through the air, what have they gotten themselves into?


	2. Chapter 1

"This is wrong, so damn wrong." Mimete was almost hyperventilating as she crossed the room several times, the others were having the same feeling as she was. The first instinct was get into the ship they came in and get the hell out of their, but whatever had done that to Ptitol could be still on board. And they weren't in the mood to deal with _it_ at the moment.  
"What the hell is going on, did something happen in the labs?" Mimete hung above Viluy trying to read over her shoulder, the white haired woman shot a look of dissipation.

"Stop reading over my shoulder, Mimete." Viluy spoke coldly, "it only mentions the scientist and the rest is charting and guests complaints. Nothing about the research going on here."

"So what do we do?" Mimete wildly gestured as she turn away, she focused on Cyprine while crossing her arms. In fact the others were focused on her, awaiting further orders from their _leader._

"We do our job, a couple of monsters shouldn't be much trouble for us." Cyprine said. Her voice was clear despite having just seeing her twin sister die before her, in fact Viluy had almost fallen a part when Eudial killed Ptitol while she just stood there with the same expression she has now.  
"We've been hit by fireballs and roses sharper than ginsu knives, this would be a walk in the park. Come on, Ptitol would want us to find her killer and tear it apart piece by piece."

"Fine, we'll humor you." Eudial said, "for now we'll humor you. So what do we do first?"

"It was pretty obvious, isn't it?" Cyprine tilted her head. It was obvious, this could be a biological issue that had happen in the labs since a scientist did express paranoia. That could be connected to the ghoul that Ptitol had become, so the next logical step was find a way into the labs.  
"But we mustn't forget our main objective here, we must find Tomoe's daughter at any cost." Cyprine quickly pointed out. "Mimete, you get the honors of finding her; the rest of us will search the lab area."

Despite conflicting emotions no one quite spoke out against this, they were always planning on ways to stab each other in the back and plotted death some times. Why should this be any different? Even if Ptitol was the one member that everyone sort of gotten a long with, why was this different any different than their normal business?  
Mimete had her theories but didn't think about them as she walked past Ptitol's fallen body, Viluy had lingered a moment before following the group.

They split off about half way, Mimete was standing in the social room as the others went further down the deck. A deep pit was forming in the bottom of her stomach as she approached the dead man, she had expected the thing to spring to lift as she nears it. Grab her leg and sink it's teeth into her leg when she stepped over it, she had unholstered her pistol when she neared it. She breathed a sigh of relief after stepping into the hall, the body stayed where it was.  
A little relaxed she open the first door on the right, on the other side was a long, narrow hall that only two doors. One at the end and the other at the side, she tried the side door to find it locked. Stooping down a bit she could make out a slot, maybe for a card key. Standing up she tried the next door, she drew in a sharp breath when she saw it; the grand hall of Heimzworm.

The floor was marble with speckles of gold, as was the massive pillars that held up the balconies of the second floor. There was a grand stairwell that was marble as well, in the center of floor was a large black star with the infinity symbol in the center.  
"Holy crap, is this where our funding goes to?" Mimete mutter under her breath. Walking to the center to get some baring she heard something, spinning on her heels to find the corpse had came to life and was standing in the doorway. She cursed as she pulled out her pistol as it was quickly closing the gap, no way this creature can't called _zombies_ as they move much more faster and are more agile than anything she saw in the movies. She went through six rounds but it was too close for comfort now, a claw was raised as she fell back. It came down with a hair from her throat, landing hard on her back Mimete stared up at the ghoul. It's dead eyes were staring down at her, she was frozen into place when she saw her own reflections.  
Blindly she swung the pistol up and fired off the last remaining rounds at point blank range, when it was over the ghoul fell on top of her. She wormed her way out from under the fallen corpse, as she did so a soft clink sound was heard; next to the body a key had fallen out of the pocket.

Mimete was too shaken to even reach for it as she ejected the clip and placed in a fresh one. She looked around, looking for anything to get out of this situation. It came in form of a door that was hidden away by the staircase, wasting no time in closing the distance Mimete open the door to find herself in another hall like other two. With one exception, there was a metal plaque on the left side of the wall with the words _**Medical Bay**_ above an arrow that pointed down the hall.  
She looked back than step forward, if that encounter was any indication she knew she wouldn't survive this.

(-)

Tellu open door after her two teammates had split off into two sections of the lower half of the lab area. Viluy went into the center computer mainframe, Eudial was only in the next room as Cyprine stayed at the meeting point.  
The room was average sized, there was some equipment in the corner and some papers taped to the walls. In a corner a bloody and mangled body that was once a man named Kusamaru, or what the name tag that laid on the floor several feet away him.

Besides the sheets of papers of some formula, there was nothing else of interest. In the next room Eudial had found the same thing except there were no bodies, nothing of interest had brought her back into the hall. Tellu had come out a second later, she shook her head while letting out a sigh.  
"Nothing except a corpse, what you found?"

"Nothing," Eudial jerk a thumb towards the door. "I'll be in the next room if you need me," she turn to enter the room next to the one she exited. Tellu stood there for a moment considering going back to talk to Cyprine but instead she went around the sharp turn that lead into the last door of the hall. She took in a deep breath before opening it, she was glade she did. The stench of rot had hit like a sledgehammer to the stomach, how did this come about she couldn't tell nor care to as she forced herself to endure to search the room.  
It was bare and nothing but metal, she looked around for whatever was making that smell. As it grew stronger she knew she was coming closer to the source, it was at it's peek near an over sized vent. Inside there was something pressed up against the grating, Tellu had her fill of the odor and decide to leave be for the time being. As she turned away there was a dull clank, spinning on her heels she saw nothing was there.

_You're losing it,_ Tellu thought as she carefully head into the next room. She blinked, it was dim but she could make out the rows and rows of chairs. In front there were a large screen, a desk and a portably blackboard. She guess this is a lecture hall, she would have felt if she hadn't seen something move; it was near the desk so she could quite make it out.  
Her tongue felt flat, she wanted to speak but if it was that thing that had killed Ptitol she would be caught. She panic when she saw the thing rose up, her pistol drawn and ready to fire.

"Wait! Don't shot! I'm a human." A form emerged from behind the desk, she couldn't make out this person from the distance she is at or the scarcely available light. "I'll prove it, hang on please." The figure had tapped something on the desk and the entire room was bright,Tellu was temporally blind but her eyes quickly adjusted to see a young that was about her age, her blonde hair was pull into a tight bun that seem to be loosing it's effect as several hairs have escaped. There were several red blotches on her lab coat, all in all she look like she travel through hell itself.

"Who are you?" Tellu lowered her pistol but was ready, just case this was a trap. "What happened here?"

"I am Jessifer, I was working in the biological research and devolvement when all of a sudden Dr. Hitosaki... _Changed_ into this thing, I manage to escape and I've hid here ever since."

"Well I with the rescue team," Tellu said. "I am looking for a young girl named Tomoe Hotaru, have you seen here?"

"No, no I haven't. I came straight here when those, creatures appeared." The woman fell back against the wall and slowly slid down, she laughed for a second. "It doesn't matter, though."

"Why?" Tellu step back, something was wrong with this situation.

"Because those, things are everywhere. One of them have been beating on the wall for hours now," she gestured towards one of the walls. "The one you would be looking for is surly dead by now, now please leave me alone."

"Gladly," Tellu huffed as she walked out. As she closed the door she expected to hear a scream, she stood there as long as she could handle the smell before going back into the hall. She couldn't see Eudial, looking into the room she had went into there was another smell like the other room. Except there was a visible source.  
In the center of the floor laid a ghoul with most of it's head missing. The corpse seem to be in advance stages of decay, which could explain the smell. With a bit of caution she flip the ghoul onto it's back, nothing different from Ptitol with the exception of the very large claws that formed where the hands should be. There were sharp teeth, Tellu shivered while walking away.

Traversing through a empty hall with just one door she found herself in a strange area, the air was highly fridge and there were tall mental canisters that could be filled with liquid nitrogen lined up perfectly near the door. Stepping a bit into the room she could see behind the canisters was rows upon rows of shelves that have daimon eggs perfectly frozen within a small beaker.  
At the ends after the shelves there was a pair of duel doors which seem fit for a hospital than a research ship. _Damn it, why do you have to disappear right now?_ She mentally cursed as she wonder over to the door to her left, she was expecting anything. All she found was more nothing, just another bland hall.

_This is going to take a while,_ she thought as she tried another room.

(-)

_Gunfire?_ She was baffled, but spurred into action. She burst into the medical bay with a gusto, in the corner a man, possibly a guard, was firing round after round into a ghoul. It took each bullet and shrugged it off, Mimete wanted to help but it was too late. The creature had used one of it's claws to ran the guard through.  
It turned slowly, Mimete felt weak in the knees and her heart raise up into her throat. It's dead eyes were focused on her, it's jaw open to reveal the sharp teeth and long tongue.

"Oh gods!" Mimete shouted, she needed to act quickly. It first dash before sliding a claw along the floor, it's fingers carved through the metal like it was water. Dodging to the right she was almost sliced in half, having the air knocked out of her when she landed Mimete got up; the door. It was her only chance for survival.  
The ghoul had already recovered from it's attack, Mimete was only half way as it dashed again. Her hands grasp the handle when it raised a claw, bringing it down Mimete shut her eyes while praying to every god she knows of when she open the door. She came tumbling to the floor as the claw missed her head by a mere inch, rolling away she avoided it again. She was in a hall that had two shot off at the end, making it "T" like in nature. Not really caring she picked the one without thinking, the first and second doors were locked; Mimete spun on her heels to dodge a swipe. She aimed quickly as she could, it stood over her with a claw pose to strike. It came down as a shot was fired.


End file.
